


Treasure Trove

by stephanericher



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, Pirates, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 23:05:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6170227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He just hadn’t quite been prepared to like Midorima back as much as he did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treasure Trove

Some people get seasick; Kise is not one of them. He’s the opposite, really; from the moment he’d set foot on a boat and felt the sway of the floor beneath him he knew he’d be fine if he never went back on land again. And so when they make landfall, he stays, ostensibly to guard the ship. He lets everyone think it’s because he doesn’t like the land and while that’s certainly true he wouldn’t be put out if he had to walk around the harbor for a day, peruse tourist shops and stop for a few hours at the local inn to drink and gossip. The main reason, though, is alone time with Midorima.

Midorima doesn’t always stay; he can’t always stay. As the ship’s doctor he has to make sure seriously injured or sick crew members get to a stable bed with a reliable source of medicine nearby (and sometimes he stays with them there because he doesn’t trust just any on-shore doctor with his patients). But most of the time he does; most of the time it’s easy to believe that he wants to have some time to himself without having to take care of everybody.

And so he and Kise are left alone on the ship, coincidentally. Or not coincidentally at all, but close enough to keep it quiet for the time being.

It’s not that they’re not supposed to have sexual or romantic relationships, or even not with other men. And it’s not that fellow crew members are strictly off-limits (as off-limits as rival pirates or lawmakers are), but they are very strongly discouraged from pursuing relationships. Kasamatsu had told him on the first day that he wanted absolutely no drama on board his ship, and that’s what romance and sex often lead to—although he’d put it a little differently, something about how Kise’s looks were not an excuse (and Kise had for a second considered asking if Kasamatsu would be interested before rightly thinking the better of it). And, well, Kise hasn’t said anything about the way Takao looks at Miyaji or the small touches that Kobori and Ootsubo exchange when they’re a bent a little too close over the counter preparing food (and Kobori’s not even a cook)—but then again, he doesn’t know if they’ve actually done anything or if this is just harmless flirting, being cooped up with someone on a small vessel long enough to know them in an intimate enough sort of way that you can let those things pass between you and not let it get out of hand, just let them be.

He and Midorima haven’t. From day one he’d noticed Midorima’s blatant attraction to him, but Kise’s been dealing with that since forever. He knows he’s very pretty, and he’d drawn some initial attention from certain other crew members as well. And Kise can always deal with other people’s attention, awkward advances; he always has. He just hadn’t quite been prepared to like Midorima back as much as he did.

As much as he does.

The attraction hadn’t gone away, following them like the stars in the sky above them, floating in and out of visibility. Midorima wouldn’t have made a move on his own (he’s too shy and too awkward and too good at self-denial) but there’s a certain frustration of having the things you want pass so close to your fingers, the mutual interest and close quarters, and, well. Maybe Kise’s too much of a hedonist for his own good but there was only so much he could imagine from the other side of a wall, and with Midorima’s quarters so close by it was too tempting to resist. (And, well, Kise’s not going to pretend that an explicit warning not to do something only makes him want to do it—it’s why he became a pirate after all.)

It’s hard to regret it when Midorima’s graceful fingers glide across his skin, when Midorima bites his bottom lip, when he can see Midorima’s brilliant green eyes shine the way they do in the heat of battle (he’s better with a pistol and a cannon than anyone else on board this ship, and it’s probably got a lot to do with those steady hands that make him good at fishing out bullets under skin and stitching up wounds). And it’s enough to grab hold of Midorima’s shirt and whisper that maybe they should let this out, that maybe they should tell, that maybe it would be okay to be able to hold hands and watch the stars on deck without having Midorima stiffen up and move away whenever he hears the boards creak behind him (and most of the time it’s just the wind).

“I don’t know,” Midorima says, just like always (and just like always he bites his lower lip, swollen from pressing against Kise’s mouth).

And “I don’t know” always means no, always that he’s not comfortable but he doesn’t want to disappoint Kise. And it’s understandable but it’s hard to resist the urge to push him toward telling, to push him toward getting it out. It’s not going to mean exhibitionism, or anything of that sort that wouldn’t be appropriate or that Midorima just wouldn’t like. But it would be nice to be able to look at him across the table, to give him a good-luck kiss when the cannons are firing their way and there’s no time to steal away before they have to go on the counteroffensive.

“Midorimacchi, come on. We’re not going to get kicked off the boat or anything.”

“I know,” says Midorima. “I know, but I—I want this to myself.”

The last part comes fast, uneven from his lips; he’s blushing furiously, the color of a tuna steak under the starlight. And for a second, Kise has no words in response—this is a factor he’d never considered, a possessive side of Midorima’s selfishness that hadn’t even occurred to him, one that’s actually pretty sexy.

“I’m yours,” says Kise, and the delight on Midorima’s face is wider than the open ocean.

**Author's Note:**

> hahaha what are titles (also i accidentally became obsessed w kobori/ootsubo when writing this WHOOPS)
> 
> for @uneplumesombre, prompt: midokise + pirates + secret relationship


End file.
